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The State is an idiosyncratic and brilliant analysis of modern political arrangements that views the state as acting in its own interest contrary to the interests of individuals and even of an entire society. As Nobel laureate James Buchanan has observed, Jasay subjects the state to a "solid, foundational analysis, grounded in an understanding of economic theory, informed by political philosophy and a deep sense of history." The results include a "devastating critique of the absurdities of modern welfare economics." Jasay traces the logical and historical progression of the state from a modest-sized protector of life and property through its development into what he believes to be an "agile seducer of democratic majorities, to the welfare-dispensing drudge that it is today." Can, Jasay wonders, this seemingly inexorable expansion of the state be stopped? Or, "Is the rational next step [for the state] a totalitarian enhancement of its power?"

Nation states are in a state of nature and show no inclination to pool sovereignty in a superstate. Yet contrary to what Hobbes is usually taken to have implied, most of them manage to avoid war a good deal of the time. They even cooperate in armed peace, most conspicuously and bravely in international trade, investment and lending, all in the face of sovereign risk. Social contract theory would predict that in these areas, there will be international thieving, default, confiscation and beggar-my-neighbour behaviour, and contracts will be worthless bits of paper. In effect, despite the lack of a superstate to enforce contracts across national jurisdictions, international cooperation is not breaking down. If anything, there is some movement the other way. International relations tend to cast doubt on the standard view of people in the state of nature as myopic simpletons clad in animal skins clubbing each other on the head. Instead, there is some reason to hold that the more civilization advances, the more viable becomes the state of nature. The fearfulness of advanced armaments may yet prove to be a more potent enforcer of abstinence from war, saving people from a "nasty, brutish and short life," than were such historic super-states as Rome, the Carolingian or the British Empire, though it may be too soon to tell.

Anthony de Jasay

Anthony de Jasay was born at Aba, Hungary in 1925. (The original Hungarian spelling of his name is Jaszay). He was educated at Szekesfehervar and Budapest, taking a degree in Agriculture. In 1947-48 he worked as a free-lance journalist, his activity forcing him to flee from the country in 1948. After two years in Austria, he emigrated to Australia in 1950 and took a part-time course in Economics at the University of Western Australia. Winning a Hackett Studentship, he went to Oxford in 1955 and was elected a research fellow of Nuffield College where he stayed till 1962, publishing papers in the Economic Journal, the Journal of Political Economy and other learned journals.

In 1962 he moved to Paris and worked there as a banker, first in an executive capacity and then on his own account, till 1979, doing investment business in several European countries and the United States. In 1979, he retired to the Normandy coast where he still lives. He has a wife and three children.

While his initial interest and training were in economics, he has later turned to political philosophy, and his writings draw on both. He has published five books, several of which have been translated into a total of six languages, as well as numerous articles, mainly in English but also in French and German. He is widely considered as one of the foremost liberal philosophers.

Личен сайт: http://www.dejasay.org/default.asp